From Dartmouth to Wilmington Hammerheads, first-year player reflects on rookie year

While things may have not worked out this year from a win-loss standpoint, Wilmington Hammerheads FC will take the pitch one final time this season in their home finale against Toronto FC II at Legion Stadium on Saturday night.

Coming off a season in which Wilmington made a push to qualify for the USL playoffs, the Hammerheads find themselves at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 3-15-9 mark.

Stefan Defregger. Photo courtesy- Wilmington Hammerheads FC

“I think it is recognized throughout the league that our team is better than our record shows,” said Wilmington Hammerheads FC Technical Director and Head Coach Carson Porter. “Our recent performance versus Charlotte was excellent, we were the better team, we deserved the three points.”

Wilmington (3-15-8) will not see a spot in the postseason, but is still hungry for a victory and looks to end the season on a positive note heading into Saturday. The Hammerheads recently played to a 1-1 draw with Pittsburgh, a side that sits just one point out of the sixth and final spot for the playoffs.

Goals have been hard to come by for Wilmington as the team has a league-low 20 goals for, but one of the bright spots has come from rookie midfielder Stefan Defregger. An Ivy League standout at Dartmouth during his playing days in college, Defregger made the most of his rookie season and looks to continue to build off a strong first year for the Hammerheads. He’s made 11 starts and 14 appearances for Coach Porter, tallying twice in his first start at Legion Stadium.

In the video below, Defregger talks about what its been like as a first-year Hammerheads player and what he enjoys about Wilmington.